Sir Keir Starmer did not give way to end-of-term high spirits. This was the last PMQs before the summer recess, but he sounded gloomier than ever.
The Prime Minister dwelt on the “14 miserable years” under the Conservatives, and complained that Kemi Badenoch was talking the country down.
She retorted – a point made in this column last week – that she is talking him down. Starmer is the one who talks the country down, for if, as he insists, everything has been broken in the last 14 years, it follows that we must by now be in a pretty desperate state.
Graham Stuart (Con, Beverley and Holderness) congratulated Starmer on the “beautifully written” Labour Manifesto of a year ago, suggested that like The Salt Path it was “a total pack of lies”, and invited the Prime Minister to recommend “a summer recess read”.
The PM could have said Pride and Prejudice by Jane Austen, perhaps the most deeply loved comedy in the English language, but he is not a man for comedy, or indeed for books.
Lord Rosebery, Prime Minister for a year and 109 days, once said he regarded any bedroom he occupied as unfurnished if it did not contain a copy of Diary of a Nobody.
As he sets out to overhaul Lord Rosebery’s record, the present PM bears an increasing resemblance to Mr Pooter, the nobody in question, who was much given to standing on his dignity.
But one should in fairness add that Mr Pooter always won through in the end and perhaps Starmer will too, for in his life so far, he has found that if he works hard enough he does win through.
Lincoln Jopp (Con, Spelthorne) asked a light-hearted question about cricket, referring to the tremendous Test match just played between England and India, and suggesting that what the PM needs is “more pace and less spin”.
No word of pleasure from the PM about the recent game, nor any congratulations to the victorious England team. Mr Attlee might have pointed out that the last wicket was actually taken by a spinner.
“He’s a sanctimonious bore,” a member of the Press Gallery remarked of the PM after today’s session.
In June 1940, Churchill promised, at the end of his Finest Hour speech, that “all Europe may be free and the life of the world may move forward into broad, sunlit uplands”.
No glimpse today from Starmer of those sunlit uplands. He needs a holiday, and so do his followers.
The post Andrew Gimson’s PMQs sketch: Starmer needs a holiday, and so do his followers appeared first on Conservative Home.
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Author: Andrew Gimson
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